FAQs

The following
questions and answers are designed to address the essential
elements of Vermont's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
decision, to support understanding of the Baseline
Accountability Reports, and to address consequences and
technical assistance needs.

For
accountability purposes, the LEA is the town
or union school district.
LEA stands for Local Education Agency.

2.

How often is an
accountability decision made for schools and school
districts?

The decision is
made annually and is based on one year of
results.

3.

What elements are
considered in determining whether a school or school
district has made Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP)?

Student
Performance: A Mathematics Achievement Index and a
Reading Achievement Index are calculated from state
assessments results of all students in tested
grades. For grades 3-8 and grade 11, students are
tested in the fall on the academic content that
they would be expected to have mastered by the end
of the previous year.

Student
Participation: The student participation rate is
based on the number of students in the tested
grades who were enrolled for the official test
window for all Vermont state assessments (regular
and alternate).

Academic
Indicator: The state designates another measure,
such as graduation rate, that is closely associated
with student achievement and applicable to the
grade span of the school or school district.

For all
schools containing the 9-12 grade span, it is
the graduation rate.

For all
other schools, it is the percentage of students
in the bottom achievement level of NECAP
Reading.

For every
school, AYP must be determined for all tested
students, regardless of the number of students and
for any of the following groups for which there are
40 or more students in the Mathematics Achievement
Index or 40 or more students in the Reading
Index:

•
Economically disadvantaged (free or reduced lunch)
students
• Students with disabilities (IEP)
• Limited English proficient (LEP) students
• Six major racial ethnic groups

5.

What is a
confidence interval?

A confidence
interval is the range of scores within which the
school's or the school district's "true score"
falls.

6.

How are
confidence intervals used in the AYP
decisions?

A confidence
interval to ensure 99 percent certainty of the school's
or the school district's AYP classification is
calculated around the Annual Measurable Objective
(AMO), the annual target for the school or school
district. If the school's or the school district's
index is within the confidence interval, it is
determined to have met AYP. On the AYP report, we
indicate the lower confidence bound of the AMO. An
index that meets this lower bound results in a school
or school district meeting AYP.

AMOs are
calculated by grade span for schools and school
districts using a formula required by the No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA). This formula is
based on the goals of 100 percent of students
proficient by 2014 and schools/districts meeting
specific requirements for incremental increases over
the 12-year period.

What
is "Safe Harbor"?
"Safe Harbor" is a mechanism through which schools
and school districts that do not meet the AMO are
determined to have met AYP because they made
significant improvement in student
achievement.

In Vermont,
a school or school district whose achievement index
does not make the lower confidence bound of the
AMO, but which does increase its achievement index
or indexes by 10 percent from the previous year,
has met "Safe Harbor." Meeting "Safe Harbor" means
the school or school district makes AYP as long as
it also meets the academic indicator for whatever
AYP group of 40 or more students has had to use the
"Safe Harbor" provision.

8.

Besides making AYP on the
achievement indexes, what other criteria must the
school or school district meet?

In order to
meet AYP, for the All Student group:

It must
ensure that 95 percent of students are
assessed.

It also
must meet the criteria established for the
applicable academic indicator.

For all other
disaggregated AYP groups of 40 or more students in
either achievement index:

The 95
percent participation rate must be met.

The
academic indicator criteria must be met ONLY if the
group meets AYP on its achievement index by using
"Safe Harbor".

How
many times of not making AYP does it take for a school
to be identified as needing
improvement?

A school or
school district enters improvement if, for the All
Student Group or for any other AYP Group of 40 or
more students, it does not:

Make AYP
for two consecutive years in the same content area,
OR

Meet the 95
percent participation rate for two consecutive
years, OR

Meet the
academic indicator for two consecutive years (as
previously described).

CONSEQUENCES & TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE

10.

What happens to schools when
they don't make AYP?

The
Commissioner describes in writing the actions the
school must take in order to improve student
achievement and to meet any applicable federal
requirements. Technical assistance may also be
provided.

11.

What happens to an LEA that doesn't make
AYP?

If an LEA does
not make AYP for two consecutive years, it is
identified and must develop a plan that addresses the
areas that caused it to be identified.

Yes, the
required actions and technical assistance change over
time in response to changing information about student
achievement and the implementation of previous year's
required actions. For Title I schools, there is more
specificity in the consequences.

13.

What does it mean to be a
Title I school?

A Title I
school is a school that receives funding from Title I,
Part A, of NCLBA. This money is distributed by
Supervisory Unions/Districts and is used to provide
additional services to those students not meeting the
standards or at greatest risk of not meeting the
standards.

14.

Why are there different
consequences for Title I and non-Title I
schools?

Although NCLBA
requires that states assess all students in all schools
and have an accountability system with consequences for
all schools, it only mandates a particular set of
consequences for those schools receiving Title I
funds.

15.

Which schools or students get
school choice?

Choice affects
only Title I schools. Additionally, there must be a
school of comparable grade span to which student can be
transferred within the district. Within schools, all
students are eligible for choice but priority can be
established, as necessary.

Supplemental
services are available only to low-income students in
Title I schools when the school is in Year 2 School
Improvement. Again, priority goes to the lowest
achieving students from the population of low-income
students.

17.

What technical
assistance do schools get?

Schools receive
technical assistance related to the reasons that they
did not make AYP and based on their need and
capacity.

18.

Is it fair to hold all
students, including those with disabilities, to the
same target/expectations?

Federal law
requires that all students be held to the same
standards and expectations (AYP targets). Only 1
percent or less of students can be held to alternate
standards (non-grade level). The results from the
Alternate Assessments taken by those students are
included at full value in the accountability
system.

What can schools do about
issues out of their control, like poverty,
etc.?

There is a
particular set of school characteristics that produce
high student achievement, even for low-income
students. All characteristics are interconnected and
interrelated. Successful schools are successful
systems. Effective systems:

Believe all
students can succeed;

Take
responsibility for students' achievement and
therefore work to continually improve their own
practice;

Are guided
by strong leadership;

Use data in
an ongoing way to provide feedback to staff as well
as monitor and support students;

Establish a
professional teaching culture that supports
high-quality instruction;

Have a
comprehensive and highly functioning support system
in place to address students' academic, emotional,
behavioral and social needs;

Create a
supportive climate that makes all students, as well
as adults, feel valued and safe; and

Build
constructive relationships with families and
involve them in their child's learning.